Gilbert Sorrentino - April 27, 1929 – May 18, 2006
In the research I have done on Sorrentino, he is described as a postmodernist. I am still attempting to discover the exact meaning of that label but I feel confident that I can lump him in there with the collection I will ultimately use to form my final definition. Nice little story to slide in towards the end of this volume.
Score 7 out of 10
Jane Bowles - Born- Jane Sydney Auer (February 22 , 1917 – May 4, 1973)
The Iron Table
Here is an example of where I find the research on the author to lend more to the story after I discover some hidden details. As you can see above, Jane died before these two pieces were published in the BASS. She had problems with alcohol, and according to web sources, her health declined steadily after a stroke at a young age. Research also revealed that Jane spent some time in
Wonderful passage at the end of the first scene.
“ A serious grief would silence their argument. They would share it and not be able to look into each other’s eyes. But as long as she could she would hold off the moment.”
Lila and Frank
The second “Scene” really unfolds after the action, and we see development explode when insight into a relationship between a brother and sister is revealed. Jane does a masterful job at cracking open the twisted complex entanglement the two share in a few brief sentences.
“So Lila moved about in the vivid world of her brother’s lies, with full awareness always that just beyond them lay the amorphous and hidden world of reality. These lies which thrilled her heart seemed to cull their exciting quality from her never-failing consciousness of the true events they concealed.”
It’s too bad that Bowles only published 7 short stories. It seems that she found a secret to really conveying tension in a small space...exactly what a good short story requires.
8 out of 10
By Jakon Hays
The Virginian-Pilot
A YEARLONG MISSION to liberate quality writing from the confines of the bottom of magazine stands. That is what Stephen King aimed for, and it's what he delivers in this year's collection of "Best American Short Stories."
Series editor Heidi Pitlor took charge of boiling down the bulk of 4,000 stories, but King went beyond his predecessor guest editors, reading hundreds of the stories himself.
In his introduction, King offers an insightful view into the current realities of short story writing, short stories in our culture, and what ultimately drives or forces the authors and editors into the selections they write and choose to include in their magazines. King detects a pulse in the American short story, but it is slowing and the prognosis is not good - partly because authors write what sells rather than writing for the love of writing, creativity and ultimately for their readers. King's compilation is a step-by-step regimen to be dissected and studied in order to learn what must be done to save and revive the short story format.
Working your way into the book, you may find yourself reading what you think is a somewhat plain, flat tale only to have your thoughts overturned in the realization that what you prejudged is a masterful story built on a deliberately flawed foundation meant to collapse in the last few pages. John Barth's "Toga Party" is a prime example of a skilled storyteller revealing his power at the last moment, planting a seed that lets the story remain with you for days.
A view inside a love affair between an Olympic gold swimmer, well into his 40s, and a 16-year-old school girl during the early 1900s is told by Lauren Groff in "L. DeBard and Aliette." Sexuality, power and manipulation, both emotional and physical, are wound into this illicit affair. The story, spanning years, illustrates the cause and effect of triumph over a crippling disease, the insensitivity of conceit and a vision of cruelty people can deliberately inflict on those they love and admire.
The theme of manipulation continues in "Allegiance" by Aryn Kyle. Marital infidelity and parental dysfunction tear and slowly degrade a family as its youngest member struggles to find her way among the dangers of the schoolyard social structure. The cruelty of classmates and the jockeying of her parents for power within their failing marriage can be uncomfortable to read.
Rounding out my favorites in this New York Times best-seller is the story of a retired intelligence operative whose duty it was to spread infectious diseases in countries deemed a threat to America. In "The Boy in Zaquitos," Bruce McAllister simply and skillfully develops a character that allows the reader to see the human side emerge from a being in an occupation that many of us assume to be without soul.
Jakon Hays is a news researcher for The Virginian-Pilot. jakon.hays@pilotonline.com
"The Best American Short Stories 2007"
Stephen King, editor
Houghton Mifflin. 448 pp. $14 (paper)
The annual "Best American" series includes the following, all available now. Most are $28 in hardback, $14 paper. Details:www.houghtonmifflinbooks.com/features/best_american/
Best American Short Stories: Stephen King, editor
... Comics: Chris Ware, editor
... Essays: David Foster Wallace
... Mystery Stories: Carl Hiaasen
... Nonrequired Reading: Dave Eggers
... Science and Nature Writing: Richard Preston
... Spiritual Writing: Philip Zaleski
... Sports Writing: David Maraniss
... Travel Writing: Susan Orlean
on the bandwagon ...
* "The Best American Science Writing": Gina Kolata, editor (Ecco/HarperPerennial, $14.95)
* "The Best Buddhist Writing 2007": edited by Melvin McLeod and editors of the Shambhala Sun (Shambhala, $16.95)
* "Best New American Voices 2008: Fresh Fiction from the Top Writing Programs." Richard Bausch, ed. (Harcourt, $15). The programs, in the U.S. and Canada, include those at George Mason University, Hollins University, the University of Virginia, and Virginia Commonwealth (though none of this year's contributors is from any of those schools).
Footnotes
Guest editor Salman Rushdie admirably delivers a cross-section of short fiction in the 2008 "Best American Short Stories" (Houghton Mifflin, $14). Among the 20 from The New Yorker, Harper's, The Atlantic Monthly and the like, established authors such as Alice Munro, Tobias Wolff and Kevin Brockmeier find their works next to offerings by newer standouts such as Katie Chase and Miroslav Penkov. Her "Man and Wife" and his "Buying Lenin" comfortably disturb the reader with writing that lingers. (Jakon Hays, The Pilot)
Joy Williams - February 11, 1944
Henry Rollins has a piece in one of his spoken word performances where he discusses the themes of movies. It is a digression from his discussion of poetry...at least I think I am remembering all of this correctly. Anyway, he talks about how a majority movies need to be depressing...how it makes them more appealing to people. He gives an example of two movies...one of which is super happy, and everything goes right for the main character. The second takes place in a world of hell, it is dark and the world is ending for the main character. He jokes that the ticket line for the latter movie would be around the block while almost no one would g and see the “happy” movie.
What is our attraction to theses dark disturbing movies?
Joy Williams seems to have figured out that writing “downer” pieces works for her voice and she has developed fans. She has been nominated for a Pulitzer in Fiction, as well as a National Book Award.
So, Bromeliads is very much a downer.
In bios about the author, she is described as creating fiction where her “Characters are usually divorced, children are abandoned, and their lives are consumed with fear, often irrational...”
About hits the nail on the head for this little piece.
I find it interesting to read about the mental breakdown of people. Again the mind fascinates me...it’s sad to see a persons own chemical makeup turn against them and cause their mind to lose its bearings and cause such pain to family members.
It happens all too often though.
And finally this quote from an online interview with Joy Williams-
“The conundrum of literature is that it is not supposed to say anything. Often a reader can enjoy a story or novel simply because he can admire the writer’s skill in getting out of it.”
7 out of 10
Telling the Bees - L. Hluchan Sintetos
Before doing my research on this author, the actual reading of this story was very enjoyable. I enjoyed the title and learning what it meant. I love superstitions. It was an upfront, strong, and bold story. Honest, sexual and colorful.
Golden honey, gleaming white teeth, white shirt, heat and sweat.
Now to the author. Who is L. Hluchan Sintetos?
Was this story written by a woman? I only assumed it was by the biographical notes in the back. Upon going through my normal steps in researching the author, I found very little about Sintetos. I did though find this interesting letter to the editor from the New York Times.
GLOSSY FICTION
January 29, 1984
To the Editor:
Frederick Busch, in his article on fiction, mentions ''Hollywood Starlet Tells All'' by a probably anagrammatic L. Hluchan Sintetos.
Indeed, sintetos approximates sintetico (synthetic), and L. Hluchan Sintetos works out nicely as Stella Hutchinson. Hiding her starlet under a bushel?
A Freudian touch. An a was available for the feminine form (pun serendipitous and paradoxical) sintetas (without teats). In a mystery story, this would have made a good clue -cherchez la sex change.
Vive la difference. EDWARD WELLEN
AWESOME!!! Man, that’s too cool. A great little story written by a mystery author. And as far as I can tell the author has yet to be discovered.
I love mysteries like this and am so happy that this little story found its way into the collection.
9 out of 10
Tim McCarthy - ??- ??
This is a classic example of an author that seems to just have dropped out. I was unable to locate anything about him outside of the notes about the authors in the back of the BASS. The notes mention that McCarthy grew up in
I enjoyed “The Windmill Man”. Classic struggle against forces story.
There has always been something that has intrigued me about windmills. I think some of it has to do with my father always pointing them out along the road during our road trips. I have found myself doing the same on my adult trips with family and friends. The machines are amazing. So simple yet able to do so much. Pulling water from the ground, generating electricity...
The men who assembled and maintained these great machines in the past as well as the people who tackle the monsters out there today are real ballsy. I think it would be fun to be a Windmill Man.
7 out of 10
Lynne Sharon Schwartz, 1939 -
I think that most of the stories that appeal to me are stories that present a glimpse into someone’s life. Just a slice of an everyday affair, a few years of an interesting character, a relationship examined closely.
I enjoyed “Rough Strife” because it was simply a slice of what could be a real life story. Granted the characters in the story have it rough...but overall, an entertaining relationship story.
Time peg in the story was right on with a pregnant character drinking and taking NoDoz but afraid of “drugs”. I suppose that explains what happened to my generation!
7 out of 10
When I was reading and writing here more frequently, I remember the feeling when the story delivered a surprise. I’m not talking about...
